Search
Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least 69 people subjected to politically motivated persecution have died. These figures have been reported by the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” in its report “Not Given Freedom.”
Human rights activists recorded deaths in places of detention, as well as during searches, under house arrest and shortly after release. Among those who died were 63 men and six women. In 2022, four people died; in 2023—ten; in 2024—26; in 2025—13; and in the first ten months of 2026—16.
Most often, people died due to illness and the lack of, or delayed, medical assistance—Memorial categorised 29 cases this way. According to the human rights defenders, at least 20 people died as a result of beatings, torture or their consequences. Among them were 12 citizens of Ukraine—residents of occupied territories and prisoners of war. Included in this group by Memorial is also the Polish citizen Krzysztof Gałos, who was abducted in Ukraine by Russian security forces.
Another ten people are believed to have died by suicide or in similar circumstances. Memorial notes that, due to the lack of transparency in the system, it is difficult to establish whether a person truly took their own life: some of these deaths may have resulted from torture and some may have been murders.
The cause of death for eight individuals is unknown to the human rights activists. The report separately mentions the deaths of pianist Pavel Kushnir and Alexei Navalny: the pianist died after a protest hunger strike, and the authors consider the death of the politician to be an intentional killing.
The youngest victims, Daniil Dakhov and Pavel Grimak from the occupied city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine, were both 18 years old. The oldest, the scholar Valery Mitko, was 81 years old.